POSTS WITH TAG: toys

From helping your baby sleep better to tracking their every moment, baby gadgets are an essential part of raising a new generation of tech-savvy little ones. Doing things the old school way is nice, but who really wants to suck boogies without any assistance? Parenting is hard enough. Why not take a little help where you can? The future is here, mamis.

When you have small children the oddest thing happens, their toys start to take over your home. It's like they multiply every time you turn your back. It becomes necessary to find ways to get rid of old toys or there might not be any room left for the actual people in the home. You will find yourself threatening to throw away anything that isn't put away and if you are like me you might actually follow through only to find yourself digging the toy out of the garbage when your kid starts crying or the guilt of throwing a perfectly good toy into the garbage gets to you. Don't worry, you aren't destined to become the star of a future Hoarders episode, there are ways to get rid of old toys with as little trauma to your kids and you as possible.

Sweetie, what do you want for your birthday? Mom, I want a dissected Hello Kitty. Ugh? Mom, I want an I Heart Guts plush toy. I want a smiley kidney, a sad liver and an animated uterus? Yup! Do you picture yourself having this conversation with your child? Brace yourself mom, because you might have to. I Heart Guts is changing the way we think about cute toys and it's revolutionizing the toy industry. You thought the Ugly Dolls were unique? Think again, because the organ-shaped plush toys created by Wendy Bryan, make the gross look beautiful.

Playtime is getting a remix! Shakira is launching a line of baby toys, which will be available in November (and just in time for the holidays). Shakira's Fisher-Price toy line will include six products including a piano gym and a musical soccer ball inspired by the father of her two children and pro-soccer player, Gerard Pique. How sweet is that! No wonder her son Milan already knows how to read in Spanish! She is raising a mini genius and now we can too…

A father entered his worst nightmare after accidentally driving over his 14-month-old daughter while pulling out of his driveway. The tragedy occurred when the Louisiana man and his wife were tinkering with their GPS device in the car and didn't notice the toddler crawling in front of the truck's back tire. The child was struck and killed when the dad started driving away. I can't even imagine the heartbreak and shock at finding out what he'd done and it reminds me of a few recent incidents in which a child's life was taken too soon because someone wasn't being vigilant enough. Toddlers are immensely curious and don't understand the concept of danger so it's important to make sure that we keep them out of harm's way. Below, 8 tips on keeping toddlers safe.

Since Hello Kitty broke onto the scene 40 years ago, many of us have been led to believe that the iconic white and pink character is, well, a kitty. But it turns out we were all so very wrong. According to University of Hawaii anthropologist Christine R. Yano, who has been studying Hello Kitty for years, the Hello Kitty isn't a cat at all. Say what?

Barbie can't ever catch a break and until the popular doll's body starts looking a little more realistic, parents will continue to criticize her manufacturer. The latest controversy comes after a partnership between Mattel and Girl Scouts of the USA was announced and consumer groups cried foul, saying Barbie is not a good role model for children.

Barbie has been at the center of a body image debate for many years now but recently, the controversy has reached a whole new level. Between the doll's increasingly unrealistic proportions and the horrifying influence it seems to be having on some women, it's very clear that it's time for a change.

Well, thanks to a new crowdfunding campaign, we could soon be getting just that. Artist Nickolay Lamm, who gained online fame last year after creating a 3D-printed Barbie based on the average measurements of a 19-year-old, is now hoping to bring his version of the dolls to life. "Lammily" dolls, as he calls them, will be kind of like regular Barbies--except with more realistic looks and body.

My home doesn't have a basement or even a dedicated playroom, so my toddler's toys are usually scattered all over our apartment by the end of the day, which at first was quite overwhelming. Some time before his first birthday, we got tired of our living room looking like a toy store and we were forced to come up with a plan of action for getting it back under control. The first thing we did was purge--we stored away anything he was too old for and trashed anything that was broken or otherwise non-functioning. Then we designated storage areas for what remained.

For us, that means that one of the decorative baskets in our living room now belongs to our son, and between naps and overnight, everything goes in and it gets tucked away in its proper place. Anything that doesn't fit in that basket gets stored in his room at the end of the day and our living room is restored to its former glory.

There are some bizarre toys out there on the market, but the latest doll created for girls by Spanish-based company Famosa is one of the strangest I've seen yet. Why? Instead of closing its eyes to sleep or sitting on a potty like some other dolls do, this one has an especially weird gimmick: refusing to eat!

If that sounds inappropriate to you, you're not the only one. The doll is stirring all kinds of controversy among parents, many who claim the doll encourages unhealthy behaviors.